


Hopelessly devoted

by seektheinfinite



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, discussions of dementia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-21
Updated: 2016-12-21
Packaged: 2018-09-10 22:00:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8941087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seektheinfinite/pseuds/seektheinfinite
Summary: Watching Laurel and Ashley in the pub together Aaron begins to realise a few things about his own relationship with Robert.   "You can just see it in the way she looks at him that she is completely and utterly devoted to him Tag to Ashley's episode from 20/12/2016





	

“Hey” Robert glanced up from his spot on the sofa, not bothering to pause the movie he’d only been half watching as he waited for Aaron. “Where have you been? I was expecting you hours ago, you weren’t answering your phone.

“Yeah, sorry.” Aaron barely spared a glance towards Robert as he walked straight through to the kitchen. Bracing himself against the kitchen counter, closing his eyes, Aaron took a moment to compose himself before turning back to face Robert. 

He was startled to find that Robert was no longer lounging on the sofa but had somehow snuck up on him and was now leaning against the wall next to him, with a look of worry spreading across his face. 

“You okay?” Robert reached out a hand ready to place on Aarons shoulder, knowing that when he was in this kind of mood sometimes physical contact was the last thing he wanted. Instead Robert was shocked when Aaron practically leapt into his arms, pulling him into a tight embrace. 

“Okay,” was all Robert could manage, this was new. 

“I love you, so much. You know that right?” Aaron’s declaration was muffled against Robert’s shoulder as he continued to cling to him.

Robert gently teased Aaron’s arms from his shoulder, taking a tiny step back so that he could look him in the eyes. “Of course I do. I love you too, more than anything. Now care to tell me what’s got you so upset?”

Aaron couldn’t look Robert in the eye, his gaze was so intense and concerned it reminded him of how Laurel had looked at Ashley in the pub, with such despair that the man she loved was hurting and there was nothing she could do to fix it. 

Pulling free of Robert’s grasp Aaron made his way to the kitchen table, sitting down heavily with a sigh. How was he going to explain this without sounding like a complete idiot? 

Robert stayed standing by the counter, giving Aaron the space that he clearly needed. They’d had their moment of intimacy, now he could see the look in Aaron’s eyes that said he was working up to telling him something and he needed everything he had to get through it. In those moments be had learnt through experience that it was best to just wait it out; he would tell him eventually. 

Aaron sighed, “I was just coming back from the bank in Hotten when I saw Ashley wandering into the church in his pyjamas. He was looking for his mum.” He paused for a moment, pulling at the sleeve of his suit, before abandoning the action when he realised that unlike his hoodies, suit sleeves do not stretch. 

“He thought he was back in the 70’s, kept talking about his brother Luke and how he was going to take him to an Undertones concert. I managed to get him in my car, told him I could take him home. He thought I meant home to his mum, started freaking out when he realised we were heading the wrong way. He almost got himself ran over. We stopped at the traffic lights and he jumped out. I only managed to get him back in the car because I managed to play his ‘record’ in the car.” 

He chuckled to himself then, remembering Ashley’s look of delight and wonder at the fact that he had seemingly been able to play his newly purchased record in the car. 

Robert stood waiting for Aaron to continue, it was obvious that there was more to this story. He’d known that Ashley was getting worse, that he had been taken to hospital but he had no idea that he was this bad. But then he didn’t really have much to do with him on a day to day basis. 

“Anyway, we made it back here but there’s was no one in so we had to come back to the pub. He just kept going on about how he needed to get home to his mum and his brother. And then there was this girl, a girl he used to date and he’d almost lost her twice, he was talking about proposing. He lit up at the idea of that. Turns out that girl was Laurel, he’d been in love with her for all those years.”

Aaron wrapped his arms around himself as he continued to look at a spot in front of him on the table, afraid that if he stopped to look at Robert he would fall apart before getting to the point of what was truly bothering him. 

“Then Laurel was there, with Doug and it was like he was looking at a stranger. This woman he loved and has loved for more than twenty years and he looked straight through her like she was nobody. They talked for a while and for an instant there was recognition, he remembered her completely and then just as soon as it had come it was gone again, only this time he couldn’t remember her at all. The love and the connection that he felt to her was just gone in an instant.”

“But the thing is that even though for Ashley there’s nothing there, for Laurel it doesn’t change. She still has all the memories, good and bad yet she still loves him, so much. You can just see it in the way she looks at him that she is completely and utterly devoted to him, even if he can’t do the same in return.”

He glanced up at Robert again, before reaching out a hand for his. Pulling him closer, he stood to meet him. Taking both of Robert’s hands in his own, he couldn’t help being hit with the intensity of emotions warring behind the eyes that looked back at him. 

“I realised today that I may not be the easiest person to love, and I have had my doubts, more than a few times about your commitment to me but when I was stood in the pub watching Laurel with Ashley I couldn’t help but notice that she looks at him the same way you look at me. I don’t care what happens in the future, and I don’t care what anyone thinks, I know for certain that you’re not going anywhere.”

Robert had to blink back tears as he pulled Aaron in close. “Took you long enough.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed it. 
> 
> Join me on tumblr @beyondthebridge


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